There won't normally be any at this point. Everything there is complete, I bet it's waiting on a power outage to bring a something online due to the amount of juice these suckers tend to need!!
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Supercharger - Knockrow (Byron Bay) NSW
- Thread starter Chuq
- Start date
Really? That have to wait for a power outage before they can connect them? I wonder why? Shouldn't the chargers only draw juice when someone's actually plugged in and charging? Like a microwave plugged in and already powered but only draws a lot of juice when you are using it. There must be some electrical engineering magic at play here. Can the enlightened please enlighten me?
RichardMcN
Member
I think NCG means that they need to schedule a time to shut sown the local sub station so they can physically wire-in the new circuit for the supercharger.
LGGD
Active Member
I see a new pile of rubble between the main bays and the tow bay 
I have a feeling that it is not just waiting for a power connection but is waiting for a power supply.
I have a feeling that it is not just waiting for a power connection but is waiting for a power supply.
Exactly, the amount of power the SCs draw as a whole normally necessitates a requirement some significant infrastructure upgrades. For instance the one Heatherbrae needed a new substation and a massive switchboard on top of all of the TESLA infrastructure (secret squirrel business stuff), and because the existing powerlines are not carrying enough juice on that side of the highway they're also having to string new lines from the other side, which are bigger and therefore the reason why two new power poles are being installed. gcgp, to put it simply try climbing up to your nearest overhead lines with your microwave and trying to plug it in, it my not quite go as simply as you stated above, but that is the equivalent scenario. First you need a substation (which will require an mains outage to bring it online, and Ausgrid require a minimum of 6 weeks to plan these, not sure who the grid is in Byron area), then once it is connected it acts as an isolation/connection point. Everything downstream of a substation is ready at the Macadamia castle from what I can see in your picture, so they must be waiting to turn on the sub, energise and then switch it on.
LGGD, that's what I'm guessing, there's probably a sub hiding around there somewhere needing to be commissioned to provide the power, just have to follow the trench scars to find it... Everything else to be finished in the image is cosmetic. Heatherbrae is in a worse state (less complete) but everything seems planned to have it online the week before Christmas by the looks of things. From experience Ausgrid will want everything finished and waiting 2 weeks for the commissioning outage and Heatherbrae has the poles in, trenching and conduit complete, sub is installed and they have the HV cables terminated in the sub and the Tesla gear is almost all installed. They just have to install the main switchboard and do a little more tidy up so they will be ready for a pre commissioning check very soon.I see a new pile of rubble between the main bays and the tow bay
I have a feeling that it is not just waiting for a power connection but is waiting for a power supply.
LGGD
Active Member
When I was at Macadamia castle a few weeks ago I saw no sign of a substation or any relevant trenching.
Thanks for all the enlightenment! I feel like a hot dog bought in New York.
I did think about this and I figured that when "waiting for a power outage" was described, it didn't mean waiting for an unplanned power outage and just take advantage of the situation. That, unfortunately, was what I initially thought, that an unplanned outage had to occur before connection was done. Silly me.
Quick question, those white cabinets in the background in the photo I took, aren't those the "substation?"
I suddenly don't feel like a New York hot dog again.
I did think about this and I figured that when "waiting for a power outage" was described, it didn't mean waiting for an unplanned power outage and just take advantage of the situation. That, unfortunately, was what I initially thought, that an unplanned outage had to occur before connection was done. Silly me.
Quick question, those white cabinets in the background in the photo I took, aren't those the "substation?"
I suddenly don't feel like a New York hot dog again.
LGGD
Active Member
They're Tesla proprietary gear. It would be an inverter etc as the grid is AC but the chargers are DC. There will still be a rather large cable running from the white boxes to a substation somewhere. If you have a look at the photos for Heatherbrae, the green kiosk is the sub, it is fed directly from the overhead mains via underground cables which you can see run down the power poles and are waiting for connection. The sub then has an underground cable running across to the same white boxes which in turn will be connected to the chargers themselves. A site I am managing has the same install minus the Tesla gear obviously but it required all new infrastructure to be installed and the outage was cancelled as they forgot to inform someone that the power was going off so I got an extra six week delay.Thanks for all the enlightenment! I feel like a hot dog bought in New York.
I did think about this and I figured that when "waiting for a power outage" was described, it didn't mean waiting for an unplanned power outage and just take advantage of the situation. That, unfortunately, was what I initially thought, that an unplanned outage had to occur before connection was done. Silly me.
Quick question, those white cabinets in the background in the photo I took, aren't those the "substation?"
I suddenly don't feel like a New York hot dog again.
Agreed, they are the 'supercharger' which from my basic understanding it would be a big ass AC-> DC inverter, control system and cooling system plus other bits and pieces. It is a secret squirrel business item from Tesla, they must manufacture them centrally somewhere and ship them all over the world as needed.
Rather than a big ass rectifier, they are essentially just a stack of 12 or so smaller chargers, the same as in your car, just more of them, running in parallel. As is mentioned here: Dual chargers with supercharger
But yes, each of those cabinets is to run 2 stalls.
Oh. I thought the actual chargers would be inside the actual supercharger structures. Good to know.
lennier
Member
DC->AC is an inverter, AC->DC is a rectifier, just for future ref
Edit: already noted above I see.
Edit: already noted above I see.
lennier
Member
Thanks for the clarification, my understanding is basic but I knew the purpose of the cabinets was to convert the AC to DC. I think everything is roughly correct though?DC->AC is an inverter, AC->DC is a rectifier, just for future ref
Edit: already noted above I see.
lennier
Member
MDK
Aussie Member
DC->AC is an inverter, AC->DC is a rectifier, just for future ref
Sure, but while we're being pedantic a typical DC fast charger contains:
A rectifier to rectify the ~415V AC 3-phase grid voltage to DC (~600V DC)
An inverter that turns that DC back into AC at a target voltage
Another rectifier that converts that AC back to DC resulting in the exact voltage required to match (and slightly exceed) your battery voltage.
The DC voltage when rectifying is based on the input AC voltage via several calculations that are beyond my grasp but an inverter can target an AC voltage, so the charger adjusts the voltage of the 2nd step to achieve the desired voltage of the 3rd step.
